TERRORISTS, PURE AND SIMPLE

Mexican Cartels Belong on State Department's List

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, gets it. When drug cartel thugs
order mass kidnappings, explode bombs, murder scores of public
officials, behead victims or hang them from overpasses, and post
signs in border-area cities warning of more violence if they don't
get their way, that's not mere drug trafficking. That's terrorism.
Finally, someone in Washington is taking action in response to the
unprecedented threat on America's southern border.

McCaul, chairman of a House Homeland Security subcommittee, has
introduced a bill to add Mexico's six dominant cartels to the State
Department's Foreign Terrorist Organizations list. It's time to take
the gloves off and stop treating these cartels as Mexican versions of
the neighborhood pusher.

These gangs have murdered 35,000 people since 2006 - more than 10
times the number killed in the 9/11 attacks.

That's terrorism. "The violence and its raw, often sadistic, brutality
form an ever-present backdrop to daily life in Mexico. . I think many
of us here have failed to grasp the profound impact of this
narco-terrorism on the lives of Mexican citizens," Ricardo Ainslie, a
University of Texas professor and Mexico native, told McCaul's
subcommittee last week. By labeling cartel members as the terrorists
they are, American law enforcers gain significant extra powers, and
penalties are boosted for anyone who directly aids and abets the criminals.

Money launderers and gun smugglers, for example, could face life terms
in prison and fines of up to $50,000 per violation. There is good
reason to exercise caution going forward.

Congress must avoid "terrorism creep," the temptation to label anyone
who fights against American interests as a terrorist.

Federal law identifies terrorism as deliberate efforts "to intimidate
or coerce a civilian population; to influence the policy of a
government by intimidation or coercion; or to affect the conduct of a
government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping." This is
exactly what Mexico's cartels are doing.

But McCaul's bill must not be used to label casual drug users as
financiers of Mexican cartels, subject to terrorism prosecution simply
for lighting up a joint. The law would, however, serve notice to
people on this side of the border who assist by transporting enormous
sums of cash across the border or who purchase large quantities of
assault weapons to fuel the cartels' killing sprees that their actions
are, under the law, equivalent to helping Osama bin Laden. The world
needs to see these killers for exactly who they are and prosecute them
with no less vigor than we do Islamist fanatics who torture, dismember
or behead their victims.

McCaul's bill marks a dramatic new step toward empowering law
enforcers to make a real impact in Mexico. It deserves Congress'
careful consideration.